Exploring Cognitive Questions with Big Data

The growing availability of data provides an unprecedented opportunity for cognitive scientists to explore exciting questions about real-world human cognition and behavior. From language change to expertise to categorization and more, the variety of available datasets can provide insights into a wide range of research areas. However, until now, very few researchers have taken advantage of this opportunity. Data on the Mind aims to help bridge this gap. By highlighting rich datasets and powerful techniques to analyze them, we are dedicated to promoting the use of big data to explore cognitive questions.

We are now curating data resources that – with a keen eye and appropriate analytical techniques – could lead to insights into research areas in cognitive science. By heading to the Find Data page, you can browse our current list of individual datasets, repositories holding multiple datasets, and lists of datasets and/or repositories. If you have or know of other such resources that are not included on our list, you can submit them to the database by suggesting a data resource. (Please note that we are not interested in hosting any data resources at this time; all resources must be hosted elsewhere.)

We are also assembling information about how cognitive scientists can use these data to explore theoretically motivated questions. Like our data resources, we provide multiple ways for you to find resources to help with data analysis, data visualization, open science, and more. Head to our Find Tools page to find tools by programming language or to browse our entire curated list. If you know about other similar resources that would be useful, feel free to share them with us by suggesting a tool or tutorial.

For more about us and our mission, check out our About and People pages, and head over to our News page for information on upcoming events and more. If you have suggestions for resources or information that you think we should include, feel free to submit them through our general suggestions form.